US union stages protest in Dublin

Members of a US-based union are protesting in Dublin this afternoon to highlight what they say are the poor working conditions of workers in the United States.

The workers are staging their protest in the Irish Financial Services Centre (IFSC) outside the offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers, which is a customer in the US of food services company Aramark.

Aramark, whose subsidiary Campbell Catering employs around 4,000 staff in Ireland, is one of world's largest food service companies.

Today's protest is part of an international campaign organised by Unite Here, a North American-based union, that is seeking improved wages and conditions for employees of the firm and better union recognition in the United States. Similar protests are being held in Britain and Belgium later this week.

“There are Aramark employees at the PricewaterhouseCoopers headquarters in New York earning less than $400 a week, and the majority cannot afford access to the Aramark health insurance scheme,” said James Grogan of Unite Here.

“Aramark is not a poor company. It made $12.4 billion in sales revenue in 2007. The CEO Joe Neubauer saw his company stock holdings jump to almost $1 billion in 2006 as the result of a company restructuring,” he added.

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